Latency - what is your music waiting for?

It's a term used in computer music for unwanted delay. 'Unwanted delay'
sounds like a bad thing, which it is, so manufacturers disguise it by
using a word that few people understand.

Audio cables have no latency. Analog audio equipment - mixing consoles,
tape recorders etc. - has no latency. Digital equipment does have
latency. Computers have it by the bucketful.

Latency causes two main problems...

One is that there is a delay in the straight-through path between input
and output. This would cause a problem if you were recording a vocal to
an already-recorded backing track. The singer would hear himself or
herself slightly delayed in the headphones. This is incredibly
distracting.

The cure in latency-prone systems is to provide a special monitor
output which takes the signal from BEFORE the point it enters the
computer (or recorder). The disadvantage is that it is usually
desirable to EQ, compress and add reverb to the monitor signal. EQ and
compression are not possible, and the delay might adversely affect any
reverb.

The other problem is that you might record one track, then subsequent
overdubs don't play back exactly in sync. In this case, whole tracks
must be shifted in time to compensate.

The best solution is to use a system whose latency is so small that
it is hardly noticeable.

David Mellor has been creating music and recording in professional and home studios for more than 30 years. This website is all about learning how to improve and have more fun with music and recording. If you enjoy creating music and recording it, then you're definitely in the right place :-)